"The personal attention that I receive at HPU is unlike any other. Through small classes I have been able to establish life-long relationships with my professors. No matter if you're in a class with 25 students or a class with just 7 students, the professors ensure your success."

Course Descriptions

WGS Courses:

WGS 1000 – Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies (4)

This course serves as a introduction to the academic discipline of women’s and gender studies. Encouraging individuals to develop to their fullest potential, women’s studies uses feminist and interdisciplinary methods to teach, conduct research, and expand existing bodies of knowledge. Critical thinking, the production of theory, and the assumption of community and global responsibility are integral to these methods. In this class students will explore these ideas while becoming aware of the ways in which gender is a social construct that impacts the political, economic, and social realities of women and men’s lives.

WGS/PHL 2016 – Family Ethics (4)

This course is an introduction to historical and contemporary ethical perspectives on the family and its relation to the broader social, religious, and political order.

WGS/SOA 2030 – Sociology of the Family (4)

The course will provide a survey of the American family, including racial-ethnic variation within the family. Recent transformations of the family will be emphasized. Topics will include cohabitation, civil unions, marriage, divorce, remarriage, parenting, provision of care to aging family members, and domestic violence. The effect of public policy on family formation and function will be examined.

WGS/SOA 2040 – Race and Ethnicity (4)

This course is an introduction to the sociology of race and ethnicity. The course surveys general theoretical approaches to race and ethnicity and applies them to specific historical developments in American race relations. Specific contemporary issues will be addressed in the course, including: racial/ethnic identity, residential segregation, immigration, education, and affirmative action. Emphasis will be given to the intersection of race/ethnicity, class and gender.

WGS/ENG 2220 – Women’s Literary Tradition (4)

Exploring women’s roles as producers and consumers of literature, this course traces the evolution of a women’s literary tradition through the reading and discussion of a variety of authors and genres. Rather than follow a strict linear trajectory, the course is arranged thematically to reflect the diversity of women’s voices, roles, and experiences. Topics to be covered include identity and difference, the female body, and marriage and motherhood.

WGS/HST 2240 – US Women’s History (4)

This survey course will examine the history of U.S. women, place their experiences in the context of political, social, and cultural change, and consider the ways evolving notions of gender both shaped women’s lives and broader U.S. history. Students will examine the lives of famous and unknown women and analyze how their experiences reflected the time and situations in which they lived. Honors section available.

WGS/COM/SOA 2274 – Women, Gender, and Culture (4)

An interdisciplinary survey of a wide range of topics and themes that are important to an understanding of women’s status, roles, and experiences.

WGS 2881 – Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies

WGS/REL 3007 – Women in the Bible (4)

This course examines selected stories about women in both Testaments from literary, historical, sociological, and theological perspectives. The hermeneutic of liberation employed will examine the texts for both their oppressive and their liberating potential.

WGS/SMG 3030 – Gender Issues in Sport (4)

This course will expose students to obvious and subtle issues in the sport domain that contribute to different opportunities and experiences for individuals based on gender. The relationship between sexuality, masculinity, femininity and sport has been a slow evolving process throughout history. This course will examine such topics as masculinity in sport, media representation in sport, and transgressing femininities in sport. Students will discuss gender equity issues as they relate to sports coverage and career opportunities in sports organizations. (junior standing required)

WGS/SOA 3040 – Social and Global Inequalities (4)

A study of the various factors that both contribute to and reduce social and global inequalities. Emphasis is placed on the intersection of race, ethnicity, class, and gender as a basis for inequality. The effects of globalization on inequality are also considered and various theoretical explanations for inequality are examined.

WGS/SL 3100 – Feminist Theory and Praxis (4)

This course examines feminist theory and praxis through the lens of service learning. In partnering with community programs that empower and address the needs of women, students will have the opportunity to enhance their understanding of course concepts as they put feminist thought into action. The weekly readings and classroom meetings will engage students in a critical examination of several influential and emerging works of feminist theory. The theories and methodologies discussed in class will then be practiced, tested, and analyzed through the work that students will be doing with community partners.

WGS/HST 3242 – War, Gender, and Military in U.S. History (4)

This course will allow students to evaluate the role gender has played in shaping American society, with particular attention paid to how moments of stability (peace) or instability (war) prompted either the revision or affirmation of standard gender roles.

WGS/SPN/GBS 3280 – Latin American Women Writers (4)

Discussion and literary analysis of poetry, prose, theatre, and essay by Latin American women writers.

WGS/ENG/GBS 3298 – Women Writing Worldwide (4)

This course, cross-listed in both the departments of English and Women’s and Gender Studies, pairs together current feminist theory with contemporary fiction by women writers from around the world. Topics covered include construction of the female body, women and work, relationships and family, exile and immigration, and women and war.

WGS/PSC 3311 – Women and Politics (4)

This course considers the theoretical foundations of women’s role in society and examines the scope and nature of the difference that women make in politics. It examines the changing role of women in American politics-as citizens, voters, candidates and elected officials-from the 1800s to the present. Finally, it evaluates the ways that legislation and litigation have altered the political and legal rights of women in modern society

WGS/COM/GBS 3374 – Global Media Representations of Women (4)

In this course, students will examine theoretical and key issues on global media representations of women. Topics include the nature of media and how it creates and challenges stereotypes, as well as its exclusionary representation. We will examine women’s portrayals in media forms that include: television, print and online media, music videos, advertisements, video games, etc.

WGS/BIO 3500 – Biology of Women (4)

This course will examine the physiology of the adult female body and will address health issues that are unique to or different in women. Emphasis will be placed on the effects of female sex hormones on multiple processes (reproductive, nervous, endocrine and cardiovascular) in the body.

WGS/SOA 4015 – Sociology of Work and Family (4)

Work and family are social institutions that around which many individuals organize their lives. The course will explore questions that address the interconnection of work and family: How do jobs affect family life? What effect does family life have on men’s and women’s experiences in the paid labor market? How effectively do existing policies address the challenges faced by working families? Although the course will focus on contemporary U.S. society, comparison to one or more non-US countries will be made.

WGS/COM/SOA 4424 – Gender Speak (4)

This course—coming from both a theoretical and practical perspective—will focus on gender literacy, providing you with the tools to be more conscious and mindful of the ways you choose to communicate gender. Springing from a social constructionist framework, we will examine our society’s normalized gendered practices and seek ways to understand how to negotiate that system with agency.

WGS 4444 – Independent Study in Women’s and Gender Studies (1-4)

WGS/EXS 4675 – The Body and Identity (4)

This course looks deeper at how our bodies fit (and don’t fit) within society and are a physically and socially constructed entity that influences our identity. The way we move, adorn, and utilize our bodies all reflect and also help shape our sense of who we are. In a way, our appearance is linked with our essence. Grasping the significance of the body involves studies of personal psychology and physiology as well as studies of historical, social, and cultural variations in experience and identity.

WGS 4481 – Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies

WGS 4810-4815 – Student Internship

Variable credit. Credit bearing internships are arranged through the Office of Career and Internship Services.